Mavs make move to Portsmouth official

PORTSMOUTH — In each of the Seacoast Mavericks’ first two years of existence, Jon Bobbett and his wife, Oneta, have hosted a Mavericks player for the summer.

On Monday at the restaurant they own on Lafayette Road — Demeters Steakhouse — they hosted roughly 60 enthusiastic city and team officials, local businesspeople and baseball fans, all of whom were on hand to officially welcome the local Futures Collegiate Baseball League entry to the city.

After two summers of playing in front of small crowds at Spaulding High School in Rochester, the Mavericks unveiled an agreement with the City of Portsmouth to play the home half of their 54-game schedule at Leary Field in 2013.

Each entry in the nine-team, wooden-bat league is made up of top college players, with an emphasis on players from New England, many of whom stay with host families like the Bobbetts, who live in Rye.

It’s that community and business support, plus a heavy baseball tradition, that have team officials feeling they will make the splash in the Port City that they failed to make in Rochester, where they finished fourth of four teams (2011) and then eighth of nine teams (2012) in both wins and average attendance.

The Mavs’ average attendance last year was 251, bumped up moderately by six “pilot” games played at Leary. Four of the FCBL’s nine teams topped the 1,000 mark.

“The Seacoast Mavericks had other cities or towns they could go to,” said Portsmouth Mayor Eric Spear. “But then you think, ‘Of course they’d pick Portsmouth.’ Our high school baseball team has had a national-record (89-game) win streak. Our Little League team has won state championships, and our Babe Ruth teams.

“Portsmouth is on the radar when it comes to baseball. I’m excited the Mavericks are going to be part of that tradition.”

The Mavericks are owned by USA Training Centers owner/operator Dave Hoyt, whose indoor facility in Newington has advanced the career of scores of the area’s top young players, many of whom are now playing collegiately, including several at the Division I level.

In his remarks, Hoyt acknowledged the work of a group of potential investors from Portsmouth who were denied in their bid to bring a New England Collegiate Baseball League team to the Seacoast almost a decade ago, calling that league’s actions “a travesty.” The fledgling FCBL has targeted the NECBL as its main rival for summer collegiate viability.

“The baseball landscape of the Seacoast has changed in the last 10 years,” said Hoyt, citing four state championships won by Portsmouth High School and two by St. Thomas Aquinas since 2004, plus the success of the 2006 Portsmouth team that advanced to the U.S. semifinals at the Little League World Series. “We did it because Portsmouth deserves it.”

The Mavericks originally wanted to call Leary Field home during their inaugural season in 2011, but couldn’t be accommodated and had to look elsewhere.

Team president Mike Daboul, who was one of Holt’s first hires in 2010, along with GM Sean Evans, said the support from Portsmouth-area businesses has been strong. He’s hoping to have a local group to partner with at each of the 27 homes dates; last year, the team honored the late Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney and longtime local coach Chris Anderson Sr.

“In three years time we’ve gone from three knuckleheads sitting around a table to a very talented group of individuals who know not just the baseball side of things, but also the business side,” said Daboul.

The Mavs also announced that the 1st annual Seacoast Mavericks Hot Stove Baseball Dinner will be held on Jan. 25, at the Portsmouth Harbor Events & Conference Center at the Residence Inn downtown. Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Sam Fuld of Durham will attend.

The team’s immediate focus is finding a field manager to replace Tim Bonehill, who will not return in 2013. Assistant coach Eric Fernandes, a longtime area youth and high school coach, confirmed he will return.